Sunday, November 29, 2015

In a separate news, the company CEO Jan Zizka was selected to the group of 100 leaders of change in NEWEUROPE100 initiative. This list showcases people that will be the drivers of change in Central and Eastern Europe in the near future.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Next week, CMOSIS will introduce the CSI2100 2MP CMOS sensor. Its features include a 1440 x 1440 pixel array with 12 µm B&W GS pixels and a 500 fps frame rate in 10-bit mode. The sensor boasts a a full well capacity of 2 Me-/pixel and is optimized to detect small signal variations in bright images captured at high-speed. This makes it suitable for medical, scientific and industrial applications. The CSI2100 evaluation kit was co-developed with Pleora Technologies.

Martin Wäny, the founder and CEO of Awaiba, now CMOSIS, gives an interview on endoscopic imaging to News Medical site. Few interesting quotes:

"The miniaturization, and in particular the usage of semiconductor miniaturization technologies, allows us to build smaller, in volume and lower priced endoscopic cameras. This enables the proliferation of disposable endoscopes for a wide range of applications.

Is it possible to introduce 3D visualization using the mini optical modules?

Yes, for that purpose CMOSIS already offers endoscopic stereo camera modules. Multiple camera modules can provide 3D image information as needed for dental applications, or for the absolute measurement of features in laparoscopy or gastroenterology."

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

As promised in comments to the earlier post on sub-electron pixel noise, here is the presentation on the noiseless frame summation in the regular charge-transfer pixel that can allow DR expansion while maintaining the usual 4T pixel noise level:

The above slides complete the description of the noiseless frame summation general idea. There are few practical issues that need to be addressed though:

The Optical Society of America announces that Eric Fossum has been elected as OSA Fellow, among other 77 OSA members. "Fellows of The Optical Society are elected based on their significant contributions to the advancement of optics and photonics and are selected based on several factors, including specific scientific, engineering, and technological contributions, a record of significant publications or patents related to optics, technical or industry leadership in the field as well as service to OSA and the global optics community."

Friday, November 20, 2015

BusinessWire: ams, an Austrian maker of sensor and analog solutions, is to acquire 100% of the shares in CMOSIS in an all-cash transaction.

Founded in 2007, CMOSIS operates as a fabless image sensor supplier from locations in Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and the U.S. and has more than 110 employees. CMOSIS expects to generate full year 2015 revenues of approx. EUR 60m with strong operating profitability above ams’ current group operating profitability. Based on available information, CMOSIS expects to continue year-on-year revenue growth in 2016.

Under the terms of the agreement, ams will acquire 100% of the shares in CMOSIS from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, and management shareholders for an equity value of approx. EUR 220m. The transaction is expected to close within the next six weeks subject to regulatory approvals and the occurrence of certain conditions defined in the agreements with the sellers of the CMOSIS shares.

“Acquiring CMOSIS is a highly complementary expansion of our sensor portfolio and another major step in executing our sensor solutions growth strategy. This transaction extends our market leadership in optical sensors and will strengthen our position as the leading pure-play sensor solutions provider for growth markets including Industry 4.0, IoT (Internet of Things) and medical diagnostics. Integrating cameras with advanced optical sensors will drive new sensor solutions across vertical markets and accelerate our growth plans as we combine CMOSIS’ leading edge IP and design capabilities with our manufacturing competence and optical sensor strengths”, emphasizes Kirk Laney, CEO of ams.

“CMOSIS has built a leading position in some of the most challenging imaging applications based on our deep technology expertise in CMOS area and line scan image sensors. Our team is at the forefront of global shutter technology for high-end imaging having up to more than 15 years of experience in this field. We are excited to join ams creating a leader in advanced imaging solutions. We will leverage ams’ technical and operational expertise and profit from the global access to potential new customers to realize our full growth potential”, adds Luc de Mey, CEO of CMOSIS.

Update:Knack.be reports that CMOSIS turnover this year is expected to be about 60m Euros, compared with 54.9m in 2014. The profit after tax in 2014 was 9.5m.

Nikkei: Seiichi Gohshi, professor of the Department of Information Design, the Faculty of Informatics, Kogakuin University, and Fujitsu jointly develop a new technology employed for the "Xevic" image processing engine of Fujitsu's Arrows NX F-02H smartphone, to be released in late November 2015. Unlike commonly-used "reconstructed super resolution" and "learning super resolution," the super-resolution technology being researched by Gohshi uses an original method called "nonlinear signal processing method." A nonlinear function is used to supplement high-frequency components and reproduce high-resolution components that surpass the "Nyquist frequency (half of a sampling frequency)," Gohshi said.

PRNewswire: Panasonic leverages its high speed sensor to introduce a Post Focus feature that captures multiple photos with multiple in focus points through a single release of the shutter. Post Focus uses 49-area DFD (Depth From Defocus) autofocus to capture 4K images at 30 fps. The operation of Post Focus function is quite simple and easy – set the camera to Post Focus mode, and press the shutter button. The camera automatically "racks" the focus while capturing photos with varied in focus points. During the playback, one uses the touch screen to select the in focus area desired, and save as a separate 8MP file:

IC Insights publishes its new ranking of semiconductor companies. Sony rises to #14:

"One of the real “star performers” on the list is Sony. As shown, even with the tremendous weakness of the yen versus U.S. dollar, the company is forecast to register an 11% increase in semiconductor sales when expressed in U.S. dollars and a 27% surge in sales in its local currency, the Japanese yen. Sony is having tremendous success in sales of image sensors and is expected to more than triple its semiconductor capital spending this year to put in additional capacity for image sensor production."

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Sony announces 1/2.9-inch IMX323LQN sensor with 2.8um pixels in a "compact and thin package while maintaining low illumination performance equal to that of the existing Sony product (IMX222LQJ) that improved sensitivity in the near infrared region for industrial applications."